No experience necessary

Economics of Contempt delivers a ringing endorsement of Rodge Cohen for deputy treasury secretary, but points out that there's no way he'll get confirmed, because he's too tied to the financial system.

Cohen would be a fantastic choice for any top government position, and
Treasury would be lucky to have him. Few people in the world have a
deeper understanding of the global financial system than Cohen.

In
today's political environment though, I have a hard time believing that
Cohen could get confirmed by the Senate without a bruising political
fight. He was heavily
involved in the events of last September. He represented Lehman during
the weekend negotiations before it filed for bankruptcy, then a few
days later represented Barclays in its acquisition of Lehman's U.S.
investment banking unit. He also represented Wachovia (his longtime
client) in the Citi/Wells Fargo debacle, and presumably advised
Wachovia's board of directors that its fiduciary duty required it to
accept Wells Fargo's offer, even though that meant violating its
exclusivity agreement with Citi. I'm sure Cohen has represented other
Wall Street financial houses at various points in the financial crisis
as well.

Perhaps we should just give up entirely on the idea of putting someone who, like, knows something about the financial system, in charge of the financial system. Is Dr. Phil available? Sure, he may not know much about banking, but he's very popular, and people like to watch him bossing other people around.

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